BLOG IN YOUR FACE

Today will be my first review of two different albums in one post! The reason being, I have had these two albums for quite awhile, but I have been a little busy with wedding planning. Also, the new O.A.R. album came out today (Jaci sent me a picture message of her holding it. She went out and bought it for me as soon as I left for work today, God bless her little heart). That being the case, I thought I had better knock out these two reviews before I forget what they sound like considering I will be listening to the new O.A.R. album non-stop for the next fortnight (at least).

So let’s dig in:

Flobots - Fight with ToolsBefore I get into my review, let me just tell a little story: I had some friends in town this past weekend, so Jaci and I took them all out to a dance club. A hip-hop song came on and everyone stampeded to the dance floor. I came to find out that this song is entitled Lollipop and the artist is “Lil’ Wayne.” I want to show you the lyrics to the chorus of this song, unaltered and in all of their glory:

Shawty wanna thug
Bottles in the club
Shawty wanna hump
And ooo I like to touch ya lovely lady lumpsThat’s it. And when they aren’t repeating that same chorus OVER and OVER they are talking about “Shawty” licking some lucky fella like a Lollipop…and then the song is over and everyone is sad. I stood there at the club this weekend wondering just where in the world the talent aspect of the hip-hop music scene has gone. Gone are the days when rappers wrote poetry about growing up on the street and gang violence in Southern California. At the age of 25, I really don’t feel like an old-timer, but then I listen to rap music these days like the songs from this weekend’s club and I simply cannot grasp how incredibly SHITTY hip-hop is nowadays!

Am I weird because I long for the days when rap music made at least somewhat  of a statement about something? Am I weird for thinking that rap music should strive to be an art form like every other genre out there? Tell me, where is the artistic expression in a song about how “Shawty” wants to fu*k a thug in a club with bottles of alcohol around and then then perform oral sex on that said thug resembling the licking of a lollipop? Lil’ Wayne: You are the reason that I rarely purchase hip-hop music anymore (case in point: last hip-hop purchase was back in late March when I bought M.I.A.’s cd).

Excuse me while I dismount from my ramblings…

Ok. I’m Better. My apologies. What I was trying to say was Thank GOD for musical groups like the “Flobots.” They are a sigh of relief to the hip-hop industry in my opinion. Formed in 2000 in Denver, CO, Flobots only hit it big within the last few months after winning a radio station contest and beginning their U.S tour with some pretty big bands and a few late night talk show gigs.

The album Fight With Tools  is more than just 12 tracks. It is a manifesto! The opening track argues that there is a war going on for our minds, with the battleground somewhere in between the media’s overwhelming influence and the government’s lies. The Flobots are the self-proclaimed “insurgents” in this war for our minds. The album art contains pictures of riot police and band members wearing American flag bandannas over their faces in militia-like fashion. The songs of the album demand that Americans take social action in many forms; that we strive for a society free from racism, sexism, political corruption, senseless violence and the like. The cool thing is, Flobots practice what they preach! They have formed several foundations and activist groups of their own. Check out these websites if you are interested:

 http://www.americawillbe.org/
http://www.fightwithtools.org/

Flobots fit into the Rock-Rap genre, but they are far from typical. On top of a 4-piece band, they are also comprised of a trumpet player and viola player. If any of you don’t know, a viola is basically a seriously upgraded violin. It sounds so deep and rugged, yet so sleek and sensitive at the same time…kind of like if you were to get David Hasselhoff and Casanova together to sing you a duet lullaby.

I absolutely cannot wait to see these gentleman (and one girl) live in concert when they come here to Omaha on August 22nd. They are playing at a venue called The Waiting Room which is a pretty intimate little place.

I would suggest going to the Flobots’ MySpace page and checking out a few of their songs to see if you like them. Personally, I think the entire album is incredible. My favorite track is actually their first single off of this album, “Handlebars.” There are tons of ways you could interpret this song, but I tend to think it is about loss of innocence. It begins telling a story about riding bikes with no handle bars for the first time and drawing comic books with our friends, and progresses all the way to witnessing missiles that are guided by satellites and holocausts that are “..end[ing] the planet…” If we all took the creativity that we had as a child and applied it to some of the worlds problems, it would be a breathtaking world to live in.

To sum up the Flobots sound, get a huge kettle and throw equal parts all of the following bands into it:

Cake
311
Phunk Junkies
Papa Roach
Gorillaz
Yellowcard
Eminem

Stir well and add a heaping tablespoon of liberal ideologies and a disgust for the current political arena. Turn down heat and let simmer for hours on end in your CD player or I-Pod. Don’t forget to smile and tell yourself that true hip-hop is not dead!

Jakob Dylan - Seeing Things

I gotta hand it to Jakob Dylan: Unlike so many kids with famous parents - not to mention any names (Myley Cirus, Kelly Osbourne, Lisa Marie Presley, Brook Hogan, Sean Lennon, Nicole Richie, that Judd girl etc.) - he really has done a remarkable job of separating himself from his father and creating a pretty independent sound and name for himself. That is pretty tough to do when your father is the Jesus Christ of folk music and arguably not only the greatest musician of all time, but also the 2nd and 3rd greatest (because nobody even comes close). And if you are absolutely insane  enough to not know who I am referring too, I speak of the one and only Bob Dylan.

Jakob hasn’t ever appeared to have any desire to follow in Dad’s footsteps or even relish in any bit of Dylan Sr.’s fame and glory. No, Jakob seems to have always been pretty content with his band The Wallflowers which he started in 1989 and recorded 7 albums with through 2007 when he finally began to throw around the idea of a solo album. Jakob and Dad have never performed on stage together or recorded anything as a joint venture.

Needless to say, I was pretty excited when my sister informed me that Jakob Dylan had a solo album out. But I must say, I noticed something before I even tore the cellophane wrapper off of the CD. As much as Jakob has tried to distinguish himself from his Dad both in music sound and in the music business, he sure can’t do a damn thing about his genes! At 39 years old and without the rest of The Wallflowers standing behind him on an album covers, he looks more like his Pops than ever before…

But this isn’t about his look. This is a music review for God’s Sake! On with it!

The album Seeing Things  is quite short; only ten tracks long. If any of you have ever heard The Wallflowers  then you know that Jakob does not have the nasal-y voice of his father. His is more of the raspy, rugged and sexy sounding nature…very breathy. If you had never seen his face before you might kind of picture him as having a 5 o’clock shadow by the sound of his voice. Very scruffy,  ya know? So, even though he has gone solo, I still can’t say the man sounds much like his father.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that Seeing Things  kind of sounds like a mix between Tom Petty and Norah Jones. It makes me want to drive down an old country road in a beat up old pick-up truck with the windows down wearing some aviator sunglasses. I really do enjoy the album…very much so. It is not anything extraordinary but I am glad I picked it up. For his first-ever solo venture, I would say he created a very nice sound. Thank You to my sister for recommending it to me. I love ya!!!

Well, on their apparent quest to make a rainbow colored discography, Weezer is back in full stride with their latest album, “The Red Album.” Rivers Cuomo is keeping things interesting, sporting the ’stache and cowboy attire these days. In fact he kind of looks like that one guy from Saving Silverman. Every time my eyes fall upon the cover of the album I am reminded that my pituitary gland is still living in the late eighties and at the age of twenty-five I am still not able to grow anything that resembles facial hair. I can’t wait until I go through puberty someday so that I can start paying full price for meals at buffets and not get carded at PG-13 movies. Damn, I really wish I could grow a sweet handle bar moustache…or at least some wicked sideburns like Joe Mauer. That would be the good life. I swear my 6 year old nephew will probably have a Grizzly Adams beard before I am blessed with one  chin pube.

Ugh…sorry about yet another tangent of mine…

The Album! I will begin with the insert. Not only does it have all the lyrics to every song, it also has interviews with band members in the margins talking about each song and the meaning behind that song, or little tidbits of information about the history of the song, etc. Makes for a good read, especially if you are like me and opened the CD while you are taking care of business…ya know…takin’ the brown mules to the watering hole???

Moving on to the album itself. Some reviews I have read have called it “experimental.” I think I would have to disagree. “Experimental” to me always brings to mind things like:

a) Gnarles Barkley
b) The Postal Service 
c) Any kind of sex between 1967 and 1969
d) Stem Cells
e) Food that I cook that involves anything other than hot dogs.
f) LSD

No, I wouldn’t call The Red Album “experimental,” but I would say that it has quite a diversity of sounds and accents. One of my favorite tracks on the album, “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived,”  for example, includes variations on Southern-style Rap music but also busts out a a sound that is very similar to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

“Troublemaker” is the first track on the album and plays out in a tempo that almost seems like he wrote the lyrics in one 5 minute stream of  consciousness writing session. Other tracks include synthesizers, drums machines and even some baroque sounding interludes. Rivers doesn’t sing on all of the tracks either. He passes the mic off to the other band members and takes over their instruments in the mean time.

My other two favorite tracks are “The Angel and the One” which reminds me a lot of one of my all time favorite Weezer tracks, “Butterfly.”

Also, only available on the “deluxe” version of the album (included in one of the four bonus tracks) is a delightful little number called “Miss Sweeney” about a steamy inner-office sexual affair. The neat part is the use of the sitar pedal on this track that gives it that Indian (the country India, not Sacajawea) sort of sound. If and when I finally get an electric guitar, that pedal will hopefully be one of my first accessories after I slap the bumper sticker of some obscure punk band from the early nineties on there.

Overall, “The Red Album” is pretty stellar; it is kind of like a woman in red lipstick. Its sexy. Its risky. Its kind of dangerous. Its mysterious. It stands out.

That’s about all I have to say about that. I give it the Andy Stamp of Approval.

Thanks for reading my review. I am going to go put mascara on my moustache now.

This is my review of the band O.A.R. and their show at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa at The University of Northern Iowa.This was my 8th time seeing the guys and it never gets old. For as long as I can remember, Bob Dylan and O.A.R. have held a tying spot at #1 on my list of favorite bands. I never have a complaint about the guys from O.A.R. in concert because they always bring energy and enthusiasm to all of their performances and I have a heterosexual man-crush on all of them, anyway.

But before I go on, let me just tell you what happened to me on Monday night after I had driven over 250 miles to see them play. I was standing there toward the back of this horribly acoustic hockey arena after the first of two opening acts. I turned around and there I saw standing all by themselves were Benji (bassist) and Jerry (saxophonist). Haha, Ben and Jerry, right?

Anyway, the entire crowd must have been clueless of their presence because nobody was paying the slightest attention to them. I casually walked over and said the first thing that came to my mind: “Hey, how’s it goin’ dudes?”

To make a long story short, they ended up talking to me for about 5 or 10 minutes (I don’t really know, I blacked out from excitement) and even offered to take a picture with me. The entire time, nobody else noticed them (us). It was like God was granting me 10 minutes of privacy with my favorite band. Incredible…

But getting to their actual set, I must say that I felt horrible for them. The sound in that wretched arena is horrible and they had tons and tons of technical difficulties just trying to make it work. I gotta hand it to the guys, though; in the face of all that, they managed to persevere.

They seemed to have quite a bit of energy up there. Before the show I asked those two if they had a nice break and they said they didn’t really get to take much of a break but did not elaborate. Turns out a couple of days later (today, in fact) Marc (vocals, guitar) released a statement on OARfans.com:

We just finished a show in Kentucky and wanted to take this chance to catch you all up on what is going on with the new record before we let anyone else know tomorrow. In October we all moved out to Los Angeles to begin pre production on the record. We spent a few weeks reworking old songs and writing new ones. These were the best days in so many ways. Taking the time to map out what we wanted to do before we hit record was the best way to make an album. It was like being in the early years of this band. Hanging around writing songs together for nothing more than the pure enjoyment of being in a band. By the time November rolled around we were ready to go. Matt Wallace produced the record and we must thank him for seeing our vision and allowing us to be ourselves. That’s really what this experience was all about. Getting on tape what we love to do in the most honest way we know how. And Matt provided the perfect atmosphere for us to create. The record is called All Sides and we are so proud of it. It comes out July 15th and we are excited for you to hear what we have been working on this past couple years.

We also want to let you know we are trying to get some of the tracks out early. Through Ticketmaster you can get a couple of the tracks right away and another one a month before the record is released. If you buy two tickets to the summer tour there is an option to buy the record which will be delivered a day before the release date as well. Just trying to get this thing out there.

Anyway, we wanted to wait to talk about the album until we had all the details worked out. It has been killing us. We want nothing more than to share this album with you. It was a true labor of love.

Thanks as always for your support. It means the world to us. See you this summer. Be good.

So the whole time they were on hiatus shortly before this show, I thought they were maxing and relaxing. Turns out they were recording the new record and I could not be more ecstatic at hearing this news. Apparently the band is quite excited as well because I could see it in their stage presence.

It was nice to hear them play some old school songs like Get Away, Conquering Fools and Mr. Moon. For me, Mr. Moon holds a special place in my heart. The song is about what it would be like to be the Man in the Moon and to look down on our world and to see how we handle every political situation that arises with war and bloodshed. It depicts the Man in the Moon simply laughing at us for what we are doing to ourselves.

Sometimes I laugh at where the world is going until I cry…that’s all.

Besides the acoustics and the crowd surfers, it was another magical show that left me feeling like I want to change things around me. O.A.R. stands for “Of a Revolution” and they could not come closer to the solidifying that name. They truly are something else, I tell ya…

I first came across M.I.A.’s music about 6 months ago when I heard her on an Indy/College music station on SIRIUS. Her sound is nearly indescribable. She has an extremely mesmerizing voice and can be slightly compared to Missy Elliot’s sort of hypnotizing-monotone-cadence style of hip-hop. Her beats cover a wide spectrum of music styles including African drums, symphonic violinish melodies, hard hitting bass and electronic/experimental vibes. I guarantee you that you have never heard anything like this woman before. I am extremely picky about hip hop. In fact, next to country music I would have to say that it is my least favorite type of music. However, I was absolutely blown away by M.I.A. As some of you know, I have been moving into my new house over the course of the last two weeks. This has involved nearly 30 trips across the city of Omaha in my truck. I have had this album playing nearly the entire time. I can’t get enough of her.

M.I.A.’s real name is Mathangi Arulpragasam. She was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in that’s country’s horrible civil war. Not only is she a music artist, she is also an accomplished visual artist and designed the album art on “Kala.” Her father is/was a prominent political activist and militant in Sri Lanka. She spent a large majority of her younger years moving from home to home and country to country due to her father’s activities and the constant threat to his family’s safety and well-being. M.I.A.’s upbringing is really evident in her lyrics and music and (for me, at least) when one listens to her they develop such a strong respect and deep empathy for her. The album is very uplifting and poetic and touches on many issues such as self-identity, poverty, war, class struggles, refugees, cultural maintenance, censorship, immigration, prejudice, anti-War On Terror, violence, day-to-day survival and working to build bridges (metaphorically speaking) between developed nations and developing nations. Her music makes me feel cultured and smart. It makes me want to get up and be active and stand up for the voiceless. It makes me want world peace even more than I already do. It makes me want to start a revolution for revolution’s sake.

This is more than just hip hop or music. This is art. This is emotion. I sound like a damn hippie, but seriously this is an amazing album. I hope that I am blessed to see M.I.A. in concert one day. I hope that she continues to make music. Buy this album and I give you my personal guarantee that you will not be disappointed. If you don’t trust my guarantee then trust this: If you know anything about hip hop then you know that anything that Timbaland get his hands on or has a hand in producing pretty much turns into gold. Trust me, this one is golden.

I don’t know if anyone saw these guys on Saturday Night Live the other night but they are a pretty unique bunch of cats. I picked up their album on sale for like 7 bucks which was pretty amazing. I was first introduced to them listening to blog radio station, Left of Center on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Vampire Weekend is from New York City. They all met while attending Columbia University together. They are currently with the label XL Recordings. Other acts that you might know of on this label are The Basement Jaxx, The White Stripes, Radiohead and my new favorite hip hop act from Sri Lanka: M.I.A (she is incredible and I will be doing a review on her).

Their sound is very unique. I don’t know if anyone has ever heard of the band Dispatch, but when I here some of the percussion experiments on the Vampire Weekend album, it reminds me a lot of them. They play a lot of African drums and other obscure instruments like a harpsichord and cellos on a few tracks. The band admits to being influenced by African pop music and Western classical music. The name of the band and the album refers to an independent film that the group made about a boy who chases vampires out of cape cod.

They are on the cover of Spin magazine this month and it calls them ”The Best New Artist Of The Year” or something along those lines. Last year they toured and opened for the band The Shins. You can check out their MySpace page here. I would recommend picking up the album. For a debut album it is absolutely fantastic. My two favorite tracks are “M79″ and “A-Punk.” I realized today while I was catching up on some writing that I had listened to the album about 4 times through in one sitting. I have a feeling that these guys are going to blow up big. They’ve already got a huge fan-base and a bunch of tour dates. I would give up my Hawkeyes hooded sweatshirt for a chance to see them live…and that’s saying a lot.

Feel free to comment below. You may need to click on the article’s title (headline) in order to open up the comment field below. You may also e-mail me any thoughts you might have to ahubbard13@bloginyourface.com and if I like what you have to say I will post it alongside this blog. If I don’t like what you have to say I may also post it alongside this blog along with my personal comments on where you should shove it!   

Normally when people whine about stuff it drives me absolutely crazy. But when it comes to musical acts, I am a sucker for whiny lead singers. You have all probably heard a band with whiny lead singers. You know, they sound like they haven’t quite gone through puberty and on every track they sound like they are begging their mothers to stay out past curfew. Some examples are Dashboard Confessionals, Angels and Airwaves, Coheed and Cambria and Jimmy Eat World. I am just a sucker for these bands and I really think it is because of the way they whine and moan their way through songs. It is just a much less intimidating sound.

Metro Station is a band that I discovered like most bands: Sirius Satellite Radio. I heard them on Alt Nation, which is all of today’s alternative rock. They have a sound very similar to the bands listed above, with some additional programming and production sounds that make it more industrial and electronica like Bloc Party.

Metro Station was started by Trace Cyrus and Mason Musso. How did they meet, you ask? Check out Trace’s last name again. Yes, he is the older sibling of Hannah Montana and son of Billy “Achy Breaky Heart” Cyrus. They actually met on the Hannah Montana set and recruited (stole) Blake Healy from Synthetic Joy for a keyboardist/synthesizerist. But don’t be too quick to judge. These guys have a very unique underground sound that is far from the blond-wig-over-hyped production of their siblings. For a debut album, this one is very grown up and streamline sounding. I am anxious to watch these guys grow up and see how they evolve. 

Two songs that have great hooks and energy are Control and Kelsey. In fact, Kelsey could be compared to Hey There, Delilah by the Plain White Tees and if you haven’t heard that one you need to crawl out of your hole. The track Shake It was iTunes’ free download of the week way back in October of 2007. These guys have been waiting to blow up for a long time.

You can check out their MySpace page here: www.myspace.com/metrostation. The demos that they have on there don’t do the album versions justice WHATSOEVER. I suggest picking up the album if you are interested. I would love to hear what these guys are like live, but unfortunately they aren’t coming anywhere near Omaha, NE. If anyone happens to catch one of their shows live, e-mail me and I will post it here alongside the blog!

People…make yourself feel good. Buy the music. Check out places like Amazon.com where you can get legit used albums for a couple of bucks. I have bought hundreds of used CDs from there and not one has been a lemon. Don’t be a music pirate. Music pirates are BUTT PIRATES.

Feel free to comment below. You may need to click on the article’s title (headline) in order to open up the comment field below. You may also e-mail me any thoughts you might have to ahubbard13@bloginyourface.com and if I like what you have to say I will post it alongside this blog. If I don’t like what you have to say I may also post it alongside this blog along with my personal comments on where you should shove it!  

I don’t consider myself a hater, but if I had to name some of the most annoying people in the world it would be that one friend that everyone has: The guy or gal that seeks out the most obscure and no-name bands or performers and completely shuns mainstream music. The minute that a performer/band makes a MySpace page, makes the Top Forty Countdown or gets any sort of public attention whatsoever, that friend of ours seems to have nothing good to say about the particular band/performer. Am I making any sense here? I mean, you know that friend; they probably wear really tight jeans and black t-shirts with some punk band that broke up in the early eighties, glittery belts, Converse All-Stars, etc. Oh my GAWD, they are annoying. They are always so bitter toward anyone’s music tastes. There is no way I could talk about Fall Out Boy or Jack Johnson without this jerk-off friend butting in with his/her two cents about “Fall Out Boy has totally crossed over into the Pop-Punk realm and they suck…” or “Jack Johnson hasn’t put out one good album since signing with a major label…” and “I went to this show at the American Legion Hall the other day and there were like 6 people there standing around smoking cigarettes watching this local band and it was so amazing dude…”

I don’t really know where I am going with this. I guess it is a rant and rave of mine that I have wanted to get off my chest for a long time. I absolutely cannot stand it when people judge others’ music tastes. Anyway, I think that what I wanted to say is that most of my musical reviews will be of bands/performers that are at least somewhat mainstream or easily accessible having at least some sort of national publicity surrounding them. This particular blog is an exception. Last night I went to a music venue here in Omaha call The Waiting Room to see a band that has a lot of hype on the Sirius satellite radio waves. They are called Black Lips. Here is my review of Black Lips: Talented musicians; horrible in concert. That is all I have to say about them.

What I really wanted to write about is the 2^nd of the three acts that performed yesterday evening. It is a husband and wife duo known as Mr. Quintron and Ms. Pussycat. Where in Jesus’ beard to I begin???????

First, the band itself: They are made up of just two members; Mr. Quintron who plays the organ and Ms. Pussycat who plays the maracas. The percussion and bass are completely digital and pre-recorded. Quintron and Pussycat hail from the New Orleans area where they own a secret nightclub called Spellcaster Lodge (a tidbit of information that is somewhat irrelevant I guess). He plays a Hammond Organ and a synthesizer which he has set up in his own custom manner to resemble a car hood with headlights and even a Louisiana license plate that said Mr. Q (I think). He also has three (patented?) inventions that he uses in his live performance as well.

1)      Drum Buddy – I don’t even know how to explain this one…it looks like a rotating Light Bright and somehow it light-activates the drum machine and he can spin it faster or slow it down to mess with the drum machine tempo. I was glad I am not epileptic, however it was fascinating. Apparently he sells these things commercially and even has his own infomercial for it!

2)      Spit Machine – I really am at a loss of how to explain this one…OK, he spits on a wooden tongue depressor looking stick and connects two metal leads to either end and moves them closer together or further apart on the line of spit and it makes different sounds. Apparently he has tried countless liquids like Lemon Juice, soda and water but nothing compares to the conductiveness of human spit!!!

3)      Disco Light Machine – Pretty much the harder and louder the beats get the brighter and crazier the light gets. This one is the easiest one of the three to explain.

Their sound is absolutely unique, as you can imagine. However I feel compelled to try and connect and associate it with some other musicians. I would have to say that Mr. Quintron and Ms. Pussycat are a cross between the B-52s, The Postal Service, The Doors, The Killers, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Pink Floyd.

The most oddball part of the show was actually after their set. They put on a technocolor puppet show with squirrels and sheep. Apparently Ms. Pussycat is a professionally trained puppeteer who used to put on Christian puppet shows back in the day. The whole set and puppet show were a lot of fun. And the coolest part was that Ms. Pussycat took a picture with me after the show and chatted with me for a bit. Mr. Quintron does not socialize with people for some reason. I was reading about him in some article and apparently he is very enigmatic and when he does grant public interviews he is very eccentric.  

The limited recorded music that this duo has out there does their live show no justice. I would suggest you see if they are touring the country anywhere near you and go and check them out. The show I went to only cost twelve bucks and it was certainly worth it. Prepare yourself for one heck of a ride; these two are freeking…OUT…THERE…

Ms. Pussycat and I

Feel free to comment below. You may need to click on the article’s title (headline) in order to open up the comment field below. You may also e-mail me any thoughts you might have to ahubbard13@bloginyourface.com and if I like what you have to say I will post it alongside this blog. If I don’t like what you have to say I may also post it alongside this blog along with my personal comments on where you should shove it!